


balancing act

by michpat6



Series: aftermath [11]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angsty Wangsty, F/M, am I sorry? no. do I hate myself for hurting them? also no., communication issues check!, hmmmmmmmm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michpat6/pseuds/michpat6
Summary: Zelda barely sleeps anymore.Link doesn’t notice it until he wakes in the middle of the night and finds her sitting up in her bed, curled in a ball and staring out the open window, bathed in moonlight.He thinks nothing of it until it happens again the next night. And the next. And the next. And the next.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: aftermath [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033743
Comments: 11
Kudos: 115





	balancing act

Zelda barely sleeps anymore.

Link doesn’t notice it until he wakes in the middle of the night and finds her sitting up in her bed, curled in a ball and staring out the open window, bathed in moonlight.

He thinks nothing of it until it happens again the next night. And the next. And the next. And the next.

The only times he sees her eyes closed for longer than a blink is when they’re at Purah’s lab every other day, but even then she’s thinking about math or Guardian parts and he already knows that she needs total silence to fall asleep and Purah never stops talking because she’s six and full of energy and Zelda _has_ to be exhausted because _he’s_ exhausted because _she’s_ not sleeping so _he’s_ not sleeping because he’s _worried_ again-

Zelda barely sleeps anymore, so Link barely sleeps anymore.

It causes...

“That’s not where those _go_ , Zelda.”

“Why would you put silverware in _this_ drawer when the plates are in _these_ cabinets, Link? It doesn’t make sense!”

“No, what _doesn’t_ make sense is that you want to put the forks on the opposite side of the kitchen!”

Issues, to say the least.

(For example, this petty argument over which drawer the silverware should go in after Zelda couldn’t find the forks.)

Zelda, who’s sitting across from him at the table, who sighs and tells him, “It’s not the opposite side of the kitchen if it’s the _right_ side-”

Link is fighting a migraine because he’s been awake for almost five days straight, and if this argument continues any longer he’s going to lose his fucking mind-

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes,” he breathes, massaging his temples. _She’s half dead, too, more like three quarters, and you’re in no shape to judge-_ “Yes, I’m listening.”

“Are you? I don’t think you are-”

“Zelda.”

“-because if you were then we would be having a _very_ different conversation-”

“ _Zelda_.”

“ _What_?!” she snaps.

He yawns, wincing at the new, harsher pounding in his head when he tilts his chin up to look her in the eye and says, defeated, “Put the forks wherever you want, all right?”

She blinks, and he wonders what he must look like if she’s this out of it, because she’s always looked better than him. “All right.”

What were they even _doing_? How the hell did they start arguing about forks?

His cheek slips from his palm (When did he put his face in his hand?) and he jolts awake, trying to rub the blur from his vision.

“Are you okay?” she frowns at him, eyebrows furrowing in concern. “You look tired.”

Link cracks a smile. _Took her long enough to notice._ “I _am_ tired.”

“Why?”

Now he laughs. “Because you’re not sleeping anymore and I’m worried. _I_ should be the one asking if _you’re_ okay.”

Every time he’s asked her this, she’s told him she’s fine and every time she’s lied. He expects this time to be no different, but Link is at his wits’ end and he swears if she says she’s fine-

“I’m fine, Link.”

And something in him breaks.

“No you’re not!” he continues to laugh, but nothing’s funny. His vision blurs again and a lump clogs his throat as pinpricks of heat build behind his eyes- “I wake up and see you zoning out like you’re hypnotized, so I start to think that you’re, like, having a panic attack or something and I want to help but I don’t know how, so instead I lay in my bed and keep an eye on you in case you start to scream like you’ve been since I freed you! So I’m sorry if I look a little tired, Zelda, because it feels like all I’ve been doing for the past month and a half is walking on eggshells!”

And oh, Goddesses, this is all coming out wrong.

“I don’t-” he puts his face in his hands and his voice breaks and is he crying? “I know I sound like an asshole, I know that. I’m not trying to blame you for being all messed up because I’m messed up, too, but I-I’m so _tired_. I want to help you as best as I can but you’re not letting me in, Zelda. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

He risks looking at her, meeting her eyes. She’s sitting very still, staring at him and saying nothing.

“Please,” he begs. “Let me in.”

The shadows in her eyes are suddenly clear as day, and he knows she isn’t at the table with him anymore. Wherever she goes when she gets quiet like this, Link wishes he could follow so he can finally understand what it is that’s been trapping her in her head and eating her alive.

Instead he sits there, pathetically sniffling like a little kid after a temper tantrum, waiting for her to come back.

(Which, isn’t that what just happened? Link got fed up with her trauma and threw a tantrum? What kind of person, what kind of _man_ , does something like that? He put himself on the pedestal of being a Hero and then did the one thing he swore never to do: Hurt Zelda. What kind of Hero breaks their sacred oath? What kind of Hero hurts their Princess?)

And then he’s not sitting at the table, either, he’s in a dark, crumbling throne room and viciously swinging the Master Sword at a beautiful woman with blue skin, black veins, and golden eyes, a beautiful woman who bears the Triforce on the back of her hand. The woman meets his strike with a sword of her own, a thin rapier, and then lightning crackles on her fingertips and he’s falling to his knees and screaming through his teeth as his shadow yells at him to, _Transform, you idiot! Let me help you!_ and a dry, rough voice that reminds him of the desert laughs in his ear-

He blinks and he’s back. So is Zelda, who seems to have been waiting for him, too.

“Can…” she falters, and her voice shakes. She’s stiff in her seat, a statue except for the light breeze from the open window upstairs ruffling her tunic and some strands of her hair. “Can I have the slate?”

He wants to say no. He can’t give it back to her, he doesn’t _want_ to, because it’s not supposed to happen like this. She’s not supposed to ask for it back when she’s on the brink of collapse, teetering on the edge of a very large fall, she’s supposed to steal it so he can make a joke so she laughs and teases him back because the slate is hers and he was only borrowing it.

The slate is hers, and he was only borrowing it.

(Isn’t that all he is? Borrowed? A Hero to be returned to legend? A soldier to be returned to his grave? He’s done his task, the Calamity is gone and Zelda is free. He’s living on borrowed time, time he stole from himself.)

“Sure,” he rasps, fumbling for the slate on his hip. He holds it out to her. “Here.”

Zelda takes it, and their fingers brush. Her skin is soft and smooth, warm in a way that makes him feel safe, and he hates how his breath catches in his throat.

_You don’t deserve to love her,_ he snarls at himself. _Not after this._

“I’ll be back soon,” she breathes. “Don’t worry.”

He doesn’t realize what exactly she means until she taps the screen and begins to dematerialize into blue strings.

“Wait,” he gasps, reaching out to grab her wrist- “Please don’t leave-” his hand passes through her and he sobs, “ _Zelda_ -”

She’s gone.

**Author's Note:**

> idk if i like exactly how this came out (it feels weak if that makes sense? but im not sure if that's just me being insecure lmao) but they have communication issues so it works


End file.
